Karakuri Dôji Ultimo
Karakuri Dôji Ultimo (機巧童子 ULTIMO, Karakuri Dôji Urutimo, lit. "Mechanical Robot: Ultimo"), commonly referred to as Ultimo, is a manga series created by Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee. The series confronts both the concepts of ultimate good and ultimate evil, through the resulting relationships between and surrounding the central characters, Ultimo and Vice. The manga was released in Shonen Jump SQ, a monthly magazine that is released every 4th of the month and the pilot, Chapter 0, was introduced in February. The manga was officially introduced to American readers through Shonen Jump USA in their July 2009 issue, but ended in their February 2011 issue, and is now being published directly into volumes, each containing four chapters of the series. In April 2011, a vomic has been announced and was released in May, dividing Chapter 2 into four small parts. Staff * Original Concept: Stan Lee * Story and Art: Hiroyuki Takei * Inker: DAIGO (Chapters 1-24), HIRO (Chapters 25-onwards) * Painter: BOB Plot In the year 2989, a well-respected scientist named Roger Dunstan unleashes his "last curse on the world" - in the form of two Karakuri Dôji - Ultimo and Vice. Their purpose is to battle to find out once and for which force is greater - Good, or Evil. He later made more Karakuri Dôji to fight alongside Ultimo and Vice, equaling to the number 100. In 12th Century Kyoto, as Dunstan is supposedly carrying two boxes containing Ultimo and Vice, he encounters a bandit group, lead by a young man named Yamato. They open the boxes, awakening the two Dôji, and thus starting the everlasting battle of good and evil. Centuries later, Yamato Agari, an ordinary high school student who is the reincarnation of the bandit leader, once again encounters Ultimo and becomes his master. He soon founds out, though, that the battle is still ongoing, and that this time it will involve his family, friends, and enemies. Along the way, he learns more about Roger Dunstan, the Karakuri Dôji, his friends and enemies' past, and what is truly good and evil. Characters The series has a wide variety of characters made up of humans and Karakuri Dôji created by Roger Dunstan, which makes up at least half of the characters in series. The main character is Yamato Agari and his dôji, Ultimo, the greatest good of the Dôji and against them are K and Vice, the most evil of all dôji. Other characters includes Yamato's allies, The Good Dôji Club and school friends, such as Makoto Sayama, whom he has a crush on. Opposing are The Evil Dôji Branch, consisting of evil dôji and their masters, such as Yamato's best friend, Rune Kodaira and one of the more frequently seen dôji, Jealous. Many human characters (except Roger Dunstan) also had incarnations in the 12th century, that greatly effects who they are now in the 21st century and why they become masters of the dôji. The characters' incarnations appears throughout the series as flashbacks and reincarnations in the 12th century reappear in the present, although some are a bit different, such as was the case with Rune Kodaira, who was a princess named Lady Gekko. Synopsis Chapter 0 Ultimo and Vice were created in the 12th century Kyoto to be "perfect good" and "perfect evil" as Roger Dunstan's "last curse upon this world". A thousand years later, a monster wearing a Noh-mask wreaks havoc in the Farmless city of West Tokyo, while the S.K.A.T. Police unit cannot stop it. Ultimo plunges in to destroy the monster, explaining that the creature is about to show its true form, Vice, Ultimo's evil counterpart. The mechanical boys end their fight, both being badly damaged, and the movement of select groups around Japan begins. Meanwhile, K, a member of S.K.A.T, found Vice's severed arm that he lost during his battle with Ultimo, and Ultimo was found in the mountains by an old man, Taiji Kokubun. Part I In the Heian period, a group of bandits and their leader, Yamato, planned to steal two boxes from Roger Dunstan and meets the Karakuri Dôji (mechanical boys),Ultimo and Vice, and start their everlasting battle between good and evil. Upon awaken Vice, he killed six of Yamato men, but Yamato's loyalty and love for the bandits that he treats as family, he stands against Vice to protect them. Seeing this, Ultimo decided to side with them, resulting in Yamato became his master and share many adventures together, as well meeting more dôji and their masters that Dunstan made. In the 21st Century, Yamato Agari, a normal high school boy and the reincarnation of the bandit leader, once again encounter Ultimo, Vice and his master, K. His life is turn upside down and quickly got involved in the conflict with the Karakuri Dôji once again, meeting even more dôji and their masters, but also remember his past as a bandit. During school and day of the One Hundred Machine Funeral, he got into a fight with Hana Koganei and Edile, and finds out that his best friend, Rune Kodaira, is Jealous' new master. Near Mt.Fuji, Yamato comes in contact with The Evil Dôji Branch and watch in horror as they killed his allies, The Good Dôji Club. In a moment of distress and finding out that he is the reason the world destruction, Yamato turns back time to day before the Machine Funeral to prevent the destruction from happening. Part II Back to the day before the One Hundred Machine Funeral, everything is back to normal. The world is safe and his best friend, Rune Kodaira, is not Jealous' master, but Yamato remembers what happened before. Outside of Kokubundo Shoppe, Yamato knows that Ultimo is inside, but decides to leave him for now until he figure things out. At school, Yamato discovers Musashi Murayama, whom also remembers what happened during the Machine Funeral, transferred to his school. They talk about what happen at the Machine Funeral, Roger Dunstan and Milieu, and his plans. Murayama threatens Yamato with a ray gun and tells him to make a choice - leave Ultimo alone or they both get killed by him, but after Yamato hesitates, Murayama tells him to go talk to Shin Ekoda, where there might a third option. At Eco Sushi, Eco tells Yamato to learn for himself the meanings of "good and evil" by meeting each of the dôji, their masters, and learn about their past by using Ultimo's powers. On his way to get Ultimo, Yamato encounters Tomomitsu Iruma and Jealous at Kokubundo Shoppe, resulting in a fight, but Ultimo wakes up to save him. After a chase through the city and Murayama and his dôji, Sophia rescuing them, Yamato travels back to the 12th century to learn about Iruma's past. While Yamato meets and learns about Iruma, Roger Dunstan gives Jealous to him, resulting in bringing out Iruma's evil side to the surface. Yamato finds Iruma in his room and confronts him, finding out his source of jealousy, and nearly getting killed by Jealous. However, Dunstan and Milieu save Yamato, and he learns for himself that Dunstan is invincible. He goes back to the present, where he finds Murayama about to "clean up" Iruma and Jealous. Not wanting Murayama to erase his memories, Yamato engages Murayama in a fight and gives Iruma a chance to stab Murayama, but gets killed by Jealous once again, who wants Yamato as his master. However, he is unable to and plans to use Rune Kodaira as Yamato falls unconscious and wakes up at Shakujii Medical with an injured Murayama, Ultimo and Sophia asleep from fatigue, and a dead Iruma. Yamato resolves to defeat to Dunstan and carries Ultimo back to Eco Sushi, but since he can't do anything right now, he goes to Makoto Sayama's birthday party and meets up with Rune, who once again became Jealous' master. At the party, he meets the evil dôji master Akira Hidaka, and who is close to Sayama, which makes Yamato causing a ruckus. This ends up causing Sayama to get mad, and then Rune lies to a greatly depresses Yamato and gets him to agree to go his house. Meanwhile Vice attacks Koun Shakujii, Hiroshi Kumegawa, Machi Shina and their dôji at their hideout, Shakujii Medical. Vice kills Shakujii and injures Pardonner, provoking Hiroshi and Machi to combine into their ICON mode with Goge and Slow to fight him. However, Vice is too powerful and he greatly injures Hiroshi, but Eco comes to save them as God Regla, telling them to flee. Vice ends up killing Eco by stabbing him, but not before Eco uses Regla full powers to give his will, memories, and everything he knows about Vice to all the masters that will live to see the One Hundred Machine Funeral. Part III Yamato goes to Rune's mansion, where Rune revealed to be Jealous' master again and then stripped him into his boxers and tied him down to his bed to "unite" them and make him Jealous's new master, but Yamato was able to take Rune hostage and they go into Masami Darumada's police car, who is a reincarnation of Yamato's old bandit friend. Meanwhile, his friends Makoto Sayama, Akitsu Otake, Kiyose Matsumoto, and Hibari Oume received memories of their past lives from Shin Ekoda and Regla. Worried, Akira Hidaka sends a report to Sumako Miyoshi and her dôji, Désir, to investigate, and later, he gets a text message from K. While in the car, Yamato and Rune talk about what happen in the past and via the memories Eco sent him, Yamato finally learns what Ultimo has been hiding from him: he killed Lady Gekko. Following them are Sumako Miyoshi and Désir, and then attack them, causing a speed chase between the two cars. Yoichi Oizumi and his dôji, Service, comes to their rescue and defeats Désir, but Rune and Jealous transform into their ICON and takes the two away because he also got a text from K. Before leaving, Rune proclaimed that he will fight Yamato in the future and severs his connection from him, but Duramada calmly tell Yamato is will be okay and takes him see his old bandit friend, Hyottoko. As The Evil Dôji Branch gather around the Sparrow Place in their human forms and Vice talk to them about how they will win the One Hundred Machine Funeral. Suddenly, Roger Dunstan and Milieu appears before them, causing most to panic and Vice challenging him to a fight, but Dunstan transforms with Milieu into their ICON. Meanwhile, Yamato arrived to a mafia hideout to find his friend Hyottoko, a reincarnation of his old bandits group, Hiroshi Kumegawa, and Machi Shina. Hyottoko wants Yamato to be their leader, but also talks about what happen recently and about his friends, specifically Makoto Sayama, who was child that belong to his group of bandits in the past life. Later, Yamato contemplates on the building's roof and finds that Musashi Murayama brought Sayama and mentions about her past life, and Hyottoko and Darumada comes back with a still sleeping Ultimo. Yamato transforms into God Ultimo and goes to save the evil dôji and their masters from Dunstan and Milieu. Upon arriving, Dunstan has defeated Vice and K, but everyone is surprised to see him, with Yoichi, Service, and Murayama and Sophia in their ICON mode. Along with them, are Makoto Sayama as the new master of Regla, and her friends, Otake, Oume, and Matsumoto as the new masters of Goge, Slow and Pardonner respectively. They are all unable to defeat Dunstan, and the next day Yamato, Musashi, and Rune all go to school like nothing happened, but encountered Jealous on their way. Meanwhile, a heavily bandage K rest in bed and Vice goes for a walk to think about what happen last night. A young boy named Jun Titibu appears before Vice, who seems to know him, and chattering about how it been a long time since he seen Vice. Vice, sightly confuse by Jun's muttering, stabs him, but Jun only smile and says he wants to be Vice's master. Sometime after school, Yamato, Ultimo, Hyottoko, and Darumada converse with Yamato's mother, Fushimi Agari about letting Ultimo stay at their apartment. At first, she reject allowing Ultimo to live with them, but after witnessing his cleaning and cooking skills, she cheerfully relents. Elsewhere, Jealous and Rune comes across Vice, who still beating at a bloody and battered Jun, but they make no attempts to stop him. At Eco Sushi, Musashi gets a visit from the evil dôji master, Fusataro Fussa, but he assures Musashi he means no harm. Fussa tried to talk to him, but Musashi remains hostile, so Fussa invites him to his studio and leaves. In the streets, Yamato, Ultimo, and friends goes to meet Musashi, but find that he not here. However, they meet up with Makoto Sayama and Regla, but they no clue where Musashi is, and noticing how bystanders are staring at Ultimo's appearance, Sayama offers her help. At Soney Music, Fussa finish a recording session with Rage as Musashi and a human form Sophia arrives. Gallery Ultimo Square Cover.jpg Ultimo.jpg Shonen Ultimo.jpg Karakuri Doji Ultimo.jpg Senjuacademygirls.jpg Ultimo Media.jpg UltimoforJapan.jpg|Hiroyuki Takei's artwork of Ultimo for "Pray For Japan" Trivia *The series takes place in the year 2012, possibly referring the belief that the world might end in 2012. *So far, the entire course of the series chronologically takes place within two days, Part I expands two whole days, and Part II and III takes place when Yamato turns back time to the day before the One Hundred Machine Funeral. External Links *Ultimo Jump SQ Site(Japanese) *Karakuri Dôji Ultimo Viz Page *Karakuri Dôji Ultimo in Wikipedia Category:Content